Introduction : they say non speak like us -- Let your words be few : speaking and silence in Queaker ideology -- The true ministry of Christ : speaking and the ligitamcy of religious authority -- Christ respects no man's person : the plain language and the rhetoric of impoliteness -- Some plough, some weed out, and some sow : preaching and passage in the process of conversion -- Going naked as a sign : the prophetic mission and the performance of metaphors -- Swear not at all : oaths, social drama, and the conflict over political authority -- Come together to wait upon God : the meeting for worship and the role conflict of the Quaker minister -- Where is the power that was at first? : the prophetic ministry and the routinization of charisma